Mac OS X in a Nutshell

Name

ping

Synopsis

ping [options] host
                  

Confirms that a remote host is online and responding. ping is intended for use in network testing, measurement, and management. Because of the load it can impose on the network, it is unwise to use ping during normal operations or from automated scripts.

Options

-c count

Stop after sending (and receiving) count ECHO_RESPONSE packets.

-d

Set the SO_DEBUG option on the socket being used.

-f

Flood ping-output packets as fast as they come back or 100 times per second, whichever is more. This can be very hard on a network and should be used with caution; only a privileged user may use this option.

-i wait

Send a packet every wait seconds. Default is to wait 1 second between each packet. Wait must be a positive integer value. This option is incompatible with the -f option.

-l preload

Send preload number of packets as fast as possible before changing to default packet dispatch frequency. High packet losses are to be expected during preload delivery.

-n

Numeric output only. No attempt will be made to look up symbolic names for host addresses.

-p digits

Specify up to 16-pad bytes to fill out packet sent. This is useful for diagnosing data-dependent problems in a network. The 32 most significant hexidecimal digits are used for the pattern. For example, -p ff will cause the sent packet to be filled with all 1s, as will -p ffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff0001.

-q

Quiet output—nothing is displayed except the summary lines at startup time and when ...